Lonely Planet
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Lonely Planet Publications (usually known as Lonely Planet or LP for short) claims to be the largest independently owned travel guidebook publisher in the world. It is probably the most popular series of travel books among backpackers and other low-cost travelers, due to its history of serving this market.[citation needed] As of 2004, it published about 650 titles in 118 countries with annual sales of more than six million guidebooks, about a quarter of all English-language guidebooks.[citation needed] Lonely Planet also has a television production company (Lonely Planet Television), which has produced and developed three series: Lonely Planet Six Degrees, The Sport Traveller, and Vintage New Zealand. Lonely Planet is headquartered in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.
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[edit] History
Lonely Planet's first book, Across Asia on the Cheap, was written and published by Tony Wheeler, a former engineer at Chrysler Corp. and Warwick University and London Business School graduate, and his wife Maureen Wheeler in Sydney in 1973, following a lengthy jaunt across the continent from Turkey, through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan before ending up in India or Nepal.[citation needed] The popularity of the overland route declined when Iran's borders closed in 1979. [1] [2] Written with panache and full of strong opinions, it sold well enough in Australia that it allowed the couple to expand it into South-East Asia on a shoestring, which remains one of the company's biggest sellers.
Lonely Planet's first books catered to young people from Australia and Europe (mainly the UK) undertaking the overland hippie trail between Australia and Europe, via South-East Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. This was becoming something of a rite of passage for young travellers, especially Australians and New Zealanders, who spent many months (or years) on the journey.
Tourist facilities were limited in most of the countries en route, and low-budget tourism was unheard of. This was the first (relatively) large-scale influx of first-worlders who took local buses in Thailand, ate at street stalls in India, or stayed with villagers in Afghanistan. The tips and hints provided by guidebooks were seen as essential to avoid problems and danger. The Lonely Planet editions were not the first for the region - however by the late twentieth century they were a dominant feature of the market.
This coincidence of a new and rapidly growing market to the traveller community (the term backpacker developed later) meant that Guide book readers would show preferences for the available guide books. The Lonely Planet clientele developed a word-of-mouth affection for the company and its products. Reader feedback played an important part in keeping most of the guide books updated, Lonely Planet benefited from the Wheelers' skills as writers, publishers and businesspeople.
At the early stages of the Indonesia (Guidebook) produced by Lonely Planet the later dominance of the publisher was by no means obvious. Bill Dalton's Indonesia Handbook had achieved the thickness and comprehensiveness by the late 1980s and Eric Oey's Insight Guides and Periplus editions (Singapore and Hong Kong based) were higher quality with colour photos and less compacted design than Daltons in the 1980s and 1990s. It was only by the end of the century and the demise of publishers or running out of print runs from the other publishers that Lonely Planet was able to dominate the Indonesian market.
The Lonely Planet guide -books' voice has changed over the years as it has entered different markets, such as Western Europe, where many guidebooks exist. It can be said that the series now caters as much to middle-class travellers as backpackers. As of 2005, the Wheelers no longer control the operation or make decisions about guidebooks, although they still own a majority of the company, and Tony Wheeler still writes some guidebooks.
The increasing professionalism of the management and the attempt to break into the massive United States market (which is relatively conservative and prone to litigation) have meant that the quirky, amateurish (in the best sense) tone of the books has diminished. For example, an early edition of Africa on a shoestring has the heading 'Drugs', which includes information on purchasing drugs (mainly marijuana), while the May 1980 edition of South-East Asia on a Shoestring includes information on how to purchase fake student ID cards. This would not be permitted in a Lonely Planet guidebook today. Other quirks included apparently hand-drawn maps and strong opinions (one book called the apartheid government in South Africa 'cretins' and 'narrow-minded psychotics'). While the maps are now more professionally drawn, the strong opinions remain. This also can be seen in the 2003 edition of its guide of Brazil, where São Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world, is served by only a few pages and heavily criticized as if it were not worth visiting.
Lonely Planet's initial strength of dominating a market has subsequently caused some problems. In certain contexts many people equate Lonely Planet with backpackers. The 30th anniversary relaunch of its various series was intended to make clearer the split between the backpacker-only products and those (now the majority) aimed at more affluent travellers and tourists. Bookshops in Australia sometimes have a whole bookcase full of Lonely Planet guide books
In previous decades - the publisher produced a quarterly newsletter as a means of providing updates and various tips - Lonely Planet has more recently emphasized the web. In particular, its Thorn Tree web forum has proven a popular place to trade tips and advice.
The company name comes from a misheard line in "Space Captain," a song by Joe Cocker and Leon Russell. The actual words are "lovely planet" but Tony Wheeler heard "lonely planet" and liked it.
The founders, Tony and Maureen Wheeler, have written a book titled "The Lonely Planet Story" and in there, they explain the story of how they would meet and marry, how they would travel from London to Australia overland and how Lonely Planet was formed.
[edit] See also
- Indonesia Handbook
- Tourism
- Globe Trekker The television series (also known as Pilot Guides) was inspired by and originally broadcast under the name Lonely Planet
- Treks in a Wild World television series
- Rory Maclean Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India
[edit] Notes
- ^ (July 20 2006) "Asia's overland route Hit the road, Jack". The Economist.
- ^ MacLean, Rory (June 29, 2006). Magic Bus. Viking. ISBN 0-670-91484-3.
[edit] External links
- Official Lonely Planet website
- "The Parachute Artist" - profile of Lonely Planet and the Wheelers from The New Yorker magazine (April 2005)
- LPG action: monochrom reports about a copy/paste/distribute art project that criticises Lonely Planet
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